Hey Rocky,

Before you get a Hi-Lift you might want to try one. They are not the
easiest device to use and they are insanely dangerous if you screw up
and the handle whacks you in the face. I prefer a good bottle jack and
foot-long sections of Trex decking (not  wood) underneath the jack.

If you are getting stuck in deep sand and want a tall jack to get out,
there are alternatives. If you are thinking that the HiLift would make
a good winch, I would recommend either buying an actual winch or
something like a Black Rat hand winch: http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipment/general_equipment/black_rat_winch.htm
  . Using the HiLift as a winch is a slow and painful process. There
are also 12V winches that are hand-mounted to either the front or rear
of your vehicle as needed - instead of having it bolted to the front.
Strips of carpet work wonders in soft sand as well.

Getting unstuck depends on a variety of circumstances - what you are
stuck in and what's nearby can be a big factor. If you travel alone
(one van) in wooded areas, a winch -either mounted or portable - might
be your best friend.

cheers,
Jeff In Marin

On May 10, 2011, at 12:35 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> Date:    Tue, 10 May 2011 08:15:36 -0700
> From:    Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: Lockers -- how hard to install LLSD?
>
> Okay, fine. Yinz* have talked me into it. I'm-a gonna have the tranny
> pulled and hauled over to German Transaxle to have the stock auto
> trans
> differential replaced with a Peloquin torque biasing diff. That,
> plus a
> Hi-Lift jack, a bunch of other recovery bits, and a lot of studying of
> this video I just got, "Getting Unstuck with Bill Burke," and I
> might be
> able to avoid the messy and embarrassing pickles I got myself into
> last
> year.